The Struggle to Stay Becomes a Struggle to Leave

On this West Virginia Morning, we'll hear the next part of our Struggle to Stay series. Reporter Glynis Board has followed the story of Mark Combs for the past year as he left West Virginia for California to pursue a career in acting.

We also travel to Clendenin, where homes are being built for victims of last year's flooding.

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Mark Combs is among a community of West Virginians who have decided that -- despite a deep love for Appalachia -- they have no choice but to leave the region. His “Struggle to Stay” actually made staying impossible.

The fire was rough on Colt. He didn’t hear from his mother for weeks at a time, and he lost a lot of sleep worrying about where she was staying, and what would happen to her, now that she was homeless. He and his mom drifted apart again, and they haven’t spoken much over the past few months.

Richard Wolfe said he doesn't remember a lot about the evening of June 23, 2016. He was visiting his sister in Charleston when he decided to heard toward his home of more than 70 years on Koontz Street in Clendenin during a severe storm that would result in historic levels of flooding for the community.